These New Englanders found that it can be a lot of fun to get obsessed with snow.

Name: Freddie Viens

Location: Fayston, Vermont

Project: Homemade rope tow

Materials Used: Rear axle of a Model A truck; electric motor from an early milking machine; belts, pulleys, rope

Time to Assemble: Three weekends

Inspiration: Viens, a mechanic and antiques collector, enjoys putting together machinery from old car parts. “I’d never actually seen a rope tow before I built one, but people told me how they remembered them,” he says. “Later, I went online and looked at pictures, and everything I saw looked pretty similar to what I’d built.”

What It Does: The rope tow runs nearly 600 feet from street level down to Viens’ front yard; it’s basically an old-fashioned ski lift. The Viens family has always used their property for snowshoeing and snowmobiling, but the rope tow has made it a popular spot for neighborhood skiers, sledders, and snowboarders.

Best Part: Most rope tows are powered by gas engines. Viens’s uses an electric motor. “It starts right up,” he says, “so it’s easy for the kids to turn on.”

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